Marmot Mountain Works GOING OUT OF BUSINESS

I hope to someday read Lock Miller's story.  I don't know him well but first met him when he was bringing out the Marmot brand, selling, as I recall, only that brand (he owned it) at his store in Tacoma (can somebody remind me what the name was..?) on Pine Street (kinda funny with REI getting big from Seattle's Pine street), about a block north of 38th.  This was before he had partners, sold the line and fired up the the three MMW stores.

I bought my first Goretex jacket from him in that early store, a Marmot Alpinist (with the fishnet liner).  There were two carousels of clothing in the store - that's all, and he was the only employee.  Later, BackPacker Supply was my second home, as it was a valuable asset to many here, too.

Lock would be the first to tell you that times change, and on-line buying trends is part of that.  Again, you get the world you bargain for when you open your wallet.  I doubt he's bitter about it - he's had a great run, and there may even be more chapters.  Anyway, I hope someone with a priviledged insight is able to bring out what would no doubt be an interesting story.

And if you happen to read this, Lock, thanks for your focus and efforts to bring us the best gear, advice and service possible.    

Sad; we really appreciated Backpacker's Supply (MMW store in Tacoma), got good service, and did a lot of business there; MMW was a little far for us, but we still did some mail order from them; their service was pretty dependable; I have really mixed feelings about the other retailers in the area when it come to bc stuff. Maybe Evo will pick up the slack.

NOOOOO!! It was where my wife and I went on one of our first dates!

tay is going to lose a sponsor as well:-(
b

Thanks Amar!...Many may want to speak for themselves, but please let me say a few words on behalf of everyone that has ever worked with Marmot Mountain Works in Bellevue (and there has been A LOT  of very amazing people that have worked here over the last 30 years).  Right off the top…please let me say that I am very, very humbled by all of the dedication that so many of these folks have shown at our local store over its history to everything that all of us do…and dream of doing..., thank you so much for everyone’s support of Marmot Mountain Works!

Many of us, including myself, remember our early days of adventures in the local mountains of the amazing Pacific Northwest and beyond, involving those first or last minute trip(s) to Marmot for those all important mission critical items that we absolutely had to have for our trip.  No matter whether you needed a good lightweight rain jacket for a friend that was here from out of town for a “casual” day trip outing that you had been planning for “3 months” where the local weather forecast had “not turned out as planned”, or you needed something for “attempting” a new “ski” “descent” in the Cascades…Marmot was the place to go… While there was never any guarantee (ha!) that your last minute trip wish would be fulfilled (custom boot-fit tweak by Eric, esoteric broken binding part cannibalized out of store stock for you by Dave, specialty lightweight crampons that no one else had in stock custom fit to your boots after hours by ?)…whatever...Marmot was the most likely place that could make it happen for you.  And if they couldn’t make that wish happen for you this time, they definitely always remembered you and endeavored to make that same wish happen for the next person that came along.  What an amazing community resource that Marmot has been…and it has been a joint effort…no one single person…not me…nor anyone else, can claim credit for what Marmot Mountain Works has meant to our local backcountry community.

Lock Miller, founder of Marmot Mountain Works, certainly deserves most of the thanks for enabling many of us over the years at Marmot Mountain Works to be able to do what we do…to enjoy what we ourselves are passionate about doing, while being passionate about helping you to do it too... thanks Lock!  While Lock and myself have chosen to be relatively quiet in forums like this over the years, we certainly really do appreciate all of the love and support shown by many of you in our community…

…it is with great sadness and many heartfelt tears that we all bring this local iconic backcountry shop to it’s close…

- David May, store manager at Marmot Mountain Works

I too am saddened by the loss of MMW Bellevue Store. Since I moved away from the Seattle area, it has been the most common place for me to make a stop whenever I'm in the area. Over a quarter century ago Marmot became the inaugural sponsor of the telemark race at Stevens Pass and has stuck with it ever since. It was a great pleasure to work with Lock, Eric and others during my own tenure as head of that race. They always brought heaps of swag to give away and cooperated on funding and advertising.
The Marmot brand became an industry innovator and leader back when. And, with the store's support of other top brands, Marmot helped fuel the backcountry skiing stoke from its infancy.
I believe Lock once told me that he was one of the original Sunnyside Sliders at Crystal Mt. Those guys ROCKED! I used to watch Sliders tucking it from the top of chair two, just to get proper speed to hit Sunnyside with!!!
A big thank you to Lock, Eric, Dave and all the others at MMW over the years!!!!!!!